4 Common Questions Prospects Ask Me During The Sales Process

We’re now more than half way through the year and already there have been many changes within digital marketing. Google’s Performance Summit yielded many updates, including:

Expanded text ads

Bid adjustments by device

Demographics for Search Ads

Pinterest has turned the advertising corner, growing into a strong player within the market and Programmatic continues to expand into a necessity for all brands.

As time goes on, there’s always new, hot topics and questions we get asked by prospects to see what our company’s take is, and how we go about implementing from a services perspective.

Here are a few questions we’ve been getting so far in 2016:

Besides Google And Bing, What Platform Would You Suggest Testing Next?

This is one question I get fairly often and it typically gets answered the deeper we get into conversation. Depending on the type of PPC campaign we’re running (lead generation, ecommerce, etc.) and where their target market lives determines which platform(s) makes the most sense.

I typically like to find out if the company has tested any of these other platforms in the past, and if so, what the results were. That usually spins off into a deeper conversation about their target market and secondary platforms.

Facebook has been a strong third option for a while now, with their remarketing and audience targeting capabilities to begin. You need to have the resources on hand to truly make Facebook work, with swapping out creative to avoid user fatigue.

LinkedIn has been a great option for B2B clients, targeting people by their professional titles, etc. that deem them qualified/potential consumers. CPCs tend to be a bit pricier, but for B2B clients it’s worth the cost to be able to target so specifically.

Do You Manage Pinterest Ads? If So, What Are Your Thoughts?

Everyone is always looking for the next big thing that can lift their business to the next level, and rightfully so. Just take a look at Facebook Ads. Over the last few years, Facebook has turned into a reliable platform for businesses, using highly targeted audiences to drive efficient performance.

Pinterest may take a considerable amount of time to get to Facebook’s level but the platform itself is promising, especially for ecommerce marketers. Pinterest has become a go-to research tool for shoppers, and they spend a considerable amount of time on the platform per visit. Putting together a thorough, granular strategy for promoted pins on Pinterest is the key to success. You need to have:

Sharp, high-quality images

Solid product descriptions

A testing cycle for sending users to product specific landing pages

With that, you should try to rotate in new pins on a regular basis, as the pins tend to get stale rather quickly.

How Does Hanapin Manage Accounts During Seasonality?

The way we structure our team and how we utilize their time allows us to allocate additional resources during the high season for our clients, especially in Q4. Having the ability to shift people over to help alleviate the workload during the most crucial time of the year allows the team to collaborate and get things done while minimizing the stress.

Given the fact that many ecommerce clients deal with seasonality, we’ve seen this question come up several times lately. That shows that A) Their previous agency had a poor strategy in place to deal with the seasonal workload and B) Their high season drives so much of their volume that a plan for seasonality is an absolute must.

Does Hanapin Have A Set “Process” To Managing An Account?

Hanapin does have a process for how we go about tasks, but a big part of that is learning the client’s business and creating a process that is tailored to their needs.

For example, with smaller businesses you may be dealing directly with the owner of the company and the one writing out the checks. With bigger clients, you may have 5-10 different department heads you need to keep in the loop on various topics/projects and communication is crucial. You can’t simply have one process in place for both of these clients. The entire process of how work is done is completely different.

The first 2-4 weeks after signing a client sets the groundwork for a successful working relationship. Understanding how the business is run, their target market, how they like to communicate and work helps you to tailor your services to their exact needs. If you can get this process right, they’ll love you and stick around for a long time.

Conclusion

New platforms and industry changes are playing a bigger role in the marketplace. However, we’ve also seen many “process” questions and testing how efficiently we can handle individual businesses. Those questions always seem to be there no matter what changes happen in the industry. It’s up to us on the agency side to adjust to changes and always have a plan in place for our clients to be successful.

In this webinar panel discussion, Hootsuite’s Ryan Ginsberg, AdStage’s JD Prater, and Hanapin’s Steve Burnett will team up to walk you through all the new and exciting changes in social and offer opinions and strategies to use them for your benefit.

Amazon has updated the Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) reporting abilities and insights. With the new reporting abilities, high-level account data is easily accessible and custom date ranges can be selected as well. There are also several new marketing reports that can be downloaded for more...